WordNet-Based Inference of Textual Cohesion and Coherence
Sanda M. Harabagiu · 1998
This paper 1 presents a computational method for the recognition of the cohesive and coherence structures of texts. A large lexical knowledge base built on top of WordNet provides with the lexico-semantic information that needs to be mined. A path-finding algorithm returns the cohesive structure of a text with results that outperform previous approaches. The lexical paths contained in the cohesive structures are used to (1) build patterns of association between cue phrases and coherence relations and (2) to find the lexical characteristics of coherence categories. Finally, the textual coherence structure is recognized by giving priority to the coherence constrains induced by cue phrases. The paper presents also the performance of building the coherence structure for several texts. Introduction In a text, a sequence of sentences tends to convey information about a certain topic, and by doing so, they use related words, providing the text with the quality of unity. This property of se...